Nick Clegg is a real hypocrite! He is more concerned about promoting his pet subject like reforming the House of Lords than in tackling the real problems of social injustice which we the pensioners and ordinary people are facing daily. He is all talk about promoting social mobility because he knows this is a populus subject and puts him in the limelight and nothing more. Get him to put money where his mouth is and you'll see his real colour then. Now he is thinking of removing free bus pass for pensioners despite knowing this will have great impact on the social mobility of pensioners who are living only on basic pensions and nothing more. Let's organise a rally and ask him to put himself into our shoes and see if he can survive on just the basic pensions without the extra help we benefit from with our free bus pass!

All other benifits are means tested so that all your years of saving for your retirement are cancelled out through paying full rent, rates, spectacles, dentistry and many other things his was the one thing I could use to save a few pounds. Not using the car for easy journies saved money and the environment.

Which agency/company will get the contract to administer the means testing? Will their fee, or the costs of administering this test, be less than the costs of *wealthy* pensioners using a free bus pass?

Thats right , extend the pass to everyone, that would be a much more efficient way of putting more money into the economy than more quantitative easing. Quantitative easing goes into bank vaults to swel their reserves (not as the clowns ,osborne cameron, intended to boost lending to business) and indirectly, to pay for bankers bonuses.

Under this system the queen gets a free bus pass... its not being removed, but should a millionaire pensioner get a free bus pass? Make the rich pay their way, then there's more money to help those who truly need it.

I say anything that keeps pensioners active and outgoing should be nurtured, not snatched away. Travelling keeps a pensioner's mind more active, and keeps them interested in life. Don't take their pass away!

Low interest rates which benefit younger people with mortgages and credit card bills to pay off hit older people who have been careful with their money and saved for their retirement especially hard. The free bus pass is parial compensation for that.
Also, if you think that this government would use any money saved on the bus pass for +extra+ spending on the the NHS or other purpose you have greater faith in Billy Bunter (Cameron) and co than I do. They would be more likely to use it to pay down the national debt, thus sucking even more money out of the economy and throwing more younger people out of work

I and my wife enjoy the freedom and benefits that the bus pass gives us.
I was born during the war and had the "benefit" of paltry family income diet and living conditions a father called up the day war was declared, was at dunkirk and D-day +10 and had a menial job at the pit.On a minimal income they scraped enough together to keep my brothers and I at grammar school.University was never an option free or not.New clothes,treats,trips out and all the other joys of life that those born after the 60's seem to think fell into our laps are figments of their imagination.Don't trust the Tories, by definition they are takers not givers.

The transport has to run with or wihout us older people. The only true cost (I imagine)is the issuing of the pass. My thinking on this issue is; it would be cheaper for governmentnto pay the fee for the pass, which enables older people to get to see doctors' and to visit the hospital when needed, than for them to setup a specialised transport system for this task? I will not mention the increase in cases of isolation and depression which would result in poor health related issues and the treatments costs then required. We do not prevent others using the transport system as we go to put our money into the eco system or to help out the local charity. or maybe use our life skills to help others' or babysit so our children can work. We the older people are an eco benifit to the system until the day we in our turn need help. it is also good to remember that your turn will come...if you are lucky, which I hope you are.

Look just how successful Cameron has been in defecting attention away from the wealth of him and his like. He's got us aruing about the crumbs from the table when what we should be doing is to tax the rich fairly so that they pay a fair amount into the system so that the pensioners and the rest of society can be treated fairly in turn.

Think there's larger issues atm. Such as stopping rising prices for all on buses from companies who can't run services well and still take a huge profit. Wouldn't rich pensioners drive anyway? How many people would this actually effect?

Tho on the other hand I'd imagine the cost of the extra paper work might mean its cheaper to leave things as they are.

Put money into the economy directly by extending the free pass to all British citizens. This would be better than 'quantitative easing' where the money goes mostly into bank vaults to re-build their capital base (!) and bankers bouneses. It would also speed up the busses by freeing the driver from wasting time collecting the fares.

This petition though worthy will be worthless if we don't also save our buses. Why have so few supporters of this one signed up to the "Saving rural bus routes" campaign (1935511) ?

If charges have to be imposed then the best way to do so would be to charge for the pass itself but keep all journeys free. That way people will continue to use buses without being deterred by the cost of fares (which even under a flat fare system would be quite high when several changes are necessary).

I may say that if the age threshold hadn't been raised a few years ago I'd have a pass now. as it is I'm wondering whether passes will survive the nearly 2 years till I qualify for one.

The cost of concessionary fares to the taxpayer is significant when compared to the total DfT budget and the cost is increasing every year. Free universal travel for the elderly and disabled has only been introduced fairly recently. My simple solution would be a national subsidised travel e.g. 60p per single journey or £1.20 travel all day, increasing by average increase in incomes, RPI, or 2.5% - whichever the govt. increased pensions by.